Erin Allen: Good morning, it's Friday. I'm Erin Allen and this is The Rundown. We're still hearing lots of reactions to Governor JB Pritzker's budget proposal. Here's an overview. My colleague Lisa Philip is reporting that college advocates are cautiously optimistic about the part of the proposal that aims to increase state aid to low income students by $100 million. This would be in the form of a Monetary Award Program or MAP grant. And it would help students in certain low income brackets attend degree and certificate programs, plus some of them could go to community college for free. Eric Zarnikow leads the agency that administers the grant. He says the program has a long had bipartisan support.

Eric Zarnikow: One perspective, maybe more of a social justice perspective helping low income students, students of color. Another perspective may be more focused on a skilled workforce and economic development, but they really do both come together in support of the MAP program.

Erin Allen: Members of the latino caucus in the Illinois legislature are also cautious in their optimism. My colleague Alex Degman is reporting that they think the governor's proposal is at least a good starting point. Democratic Democratic State Senator Cristina Pacione-Zayas appreciates Pritzker’s ideas around education, but she wants to know more about Smart Start Illinois, which is governor J.B. Pritzker's free preschool proposal.

Cristina Pacione-Zayas: How do we make community based centers and their programs for early childhood whole and on par with our school programs? Because when you’re thinking about working families, you need to have a full day of care as well as a full year of care.

Erin Allen: Now, the Illinois Legislature's Black Caucus members say they're glad Governor J.B. Pritzker has proposed spending plan is addressing issues that are important to them. Democratic State Senator Elgie Sims says they'll advocate for the policies that move their communities forward.

Elgie Sims: And what you are hearing from the Illinois Legislative Black Baucus is a commitment to our communities. A commitment to ensuring our communities have equity. Now equity means that we have the same as everyone else, but also that we repair some of the damage that has been done in the past.

Erin Allen: As I mentioned yesterday, Pritzker's budget proposal spends $49.6 billion next fiscal year, even though revenue estimates from his office, predict about $1.5 million less coming in to State coffers. The governor and state lawmakers will spend the next three months or so hashing out a final document. 

Regardless of your opinions about prisons, the time people spend locked up is disruptive to their lives. One of the repercussions is that having that on your record makes it hard to find work once you get out. Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised a while back to do something about this. And The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that yesterday she delivered on that promise. She ordered changes to Chicago’s hiring and personnel policies that would reduce impediments to hiring ex-offenders. Many of them focused on background checks. They can no longer consider cannabis convictions that are currently decriminalized, arrests that never led to conviction, or convictions that have been dismissed or expunged. This is personal for the mayor. You may have heard the story of her older brother. He spent much of his adult life in prison, and his last stint was 17 years. He’s now in his mid-60s with a high school degree and not many job skills. Mayor Lightfoot has said he quote,“struggles every single day.” That’s why she says she’s hoping that, since Chicago’s largest employer is quote “leading by example,” she can pressure the private sector to follow suit. There is more the city of Chicago is doing in that regard. You can go to chicago.suntimes.com for more information.

Advocates and workers at O’Hare airport are saying the number of unhoused people that sleep or take refuge there has increased substantially this year. The situation has drawn national attention and criticism. And yesterday, Lightfoot said it’s a security risk to allow folks to stay there like that, so she vowed to do everything she can to remove them. Although she made a point of highlighting the issue, The Chicago Sun-Times spoke to a law enforcement source, who said that there was no directive from City Hall to more aggressively remove people from O’Hare. So this week, they started their own problem solving –– additional police have been dedicated to offering services to homeless people and sometimes even driving them to hospitals or shelters. And they’ve been removing those who don’t accept the help. The source says this has been working in quote “making numbers more manageable.”

And now for a few quick hits. The Chicago Sky have introduced some of the new players filling the 2023 roster. A new Guard, power forward, center-forward, center, and point guard were announced earlier this week. After losing four star players, the Sky are in a period of what General Manager Head Coach James Wade calls restructuring. To see who they are, you can check out the roster at sky.wnba.com.

And now that the red line will officially be extended south, Chicago's planning department is offering a vision for possible development that could complement the new CTA stations. Planning Commissioner Maurice Cox says it will be years before they're completed. But that shouldn't stop private developers from getting a head start. Some things on the table so far are apartments shops and public green space.

As for the weather, it is cold today but fat less nasty out there. The high is in the mid twenties, partly cloudy this morning but sunny and clear the rest of the day. Tonight, it’s going down to the low 20s. If you can stand the cold, maybe step out and gaze at some constellations. 

And that’s it for The Rundown, come back this afternoon to hear some history about The South Side through the lens of the amazing photographer and writer, Lee Bey. 

Lee Bay: All of that came out of the South Side. All that culture, all that food, all that music.

Erin Allen: That’s today at 2 p.m. on The Rundown. I’m Erin Allen and I’ll talk to you then.

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